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Otto L. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3952) interviewed by Raymond Kaplan,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3952

Videotape testimony of Otto L., who was born in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland in 1909 and raised in Konstanz, Germany. He recounts his family's long history in Germany and Switzerland; his parents' non-involvement with Judaism; active participation in gymnastics, swimming, and scouting; never experiencing antisemitism until an encounter with a non-local scout group; his bar mitzvah; an apprenticeship in Nuremberg for two years; friendship with a police officer who provided him with information that later saved his life; working in Bochum for thirteen months, then for his father; a job in Augsburg beginning in 1932; exclusion from the swim club after Hitler's election in 1933; his mother warning him he was wanted by the Gestapo in Konstanz; fleeing to Switzerland; living with his grandparents in Zurich, then with an aunt in Czechoslovakia; obtaining a ticket for Palestine in Prague; illegally entering Palestine; visiting his parents in Switzerland in 1937; emigration with them to the United States; marriage; and his career.

Author/Creator
L., Otto, 1909-
Published
Mahwah, N.J. : Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 1997
Interview Date
February 28, 1997.
Locale
Kreuzlingen (Switzerland)
Switzerland
Konstanz (Germany)
Nuremberg (Germany)
Bochum (Germany)
Augsburg (Germany)
Zurich (Switzerland)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Palestine
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Otto L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3952). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.